Apparatus for drying air.



(No Model.)

l A. T. PERKINS.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING AIR.

(Application filed. Oct. 13, 189B. Renewed Nov. 21, 1899.)

Patented 1an. 2, |900.

2 Sheets-Sheet |A me cams nass co. Pnoaurua.. wAsHmoroN. oA C..

IN VEA/T012 Attorney Patented 1an. 2, |900.

A. T. PERKINS.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING AIR.

(Application filed Oct. 13, 1896. Renewed Nov. 21, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

' WITJVESSES Nanou. u. c

"ms Norms 51ans co. Novo-Uma.. w. m

ALFRED T. PERKINS, or ciucneo, iLLiNois.

.APFHTUS FOR URYiNG AIR.

SEEGIFCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 640,318, dated January 2, 1900. Application filed October 13,1896. Renewed November 21, 1899. Serial No. 737,820. (No model.)

T0 @ZZ whom ift may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED T. PERKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented certain new and useful.

improvements in Apparatus for Drying Air; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the saine.

OnApril la, 1896, l filed an application for patent in the United States Patent Office, Serial No. 587,526, for an improved process for the conservation of fruits and other perishable products, and on June 24, 1896, I led another application, Serial No. 596,670, for improvements in fruit-cars or apparatus to be used upon fruit-cars for carrying out the process described in the former application. The process therein set forth for the conservation of fruit is not what is known as the process of refrigeration, but utilizes instead of a closed chamber with moist air at a low temperature a continuous current of dry air at a normal temperature. The action is based upon the prime factors of decay, which in fruit are a given percentage of sugar and acid with a known degree of temperature and humidity, and in connection With these a vitalizing of the fungoid spores. In illustration, the development of decay in fruits of fine 'tender flesh, as the peach and the apricot, is the action of the sugar and acids in fermen tation, causing the exudation of moisure to the surface. Under a high temperature this is rapid, especially if the atmosphere is humid. This exudation is essential to the vitalization of the spores, and in fruits carrying a high percentage of sugar is correspondingly viscid, catching and spreading the floating spores in the atmosphere. The recognized opinion of the best authorities at the present time is that the proper conservation of fruit requires a process which will produce the proper temperature to retard fermentation, a dry air to absorb the moisture, and a sterilized air to destroy the germs of fungoid growth, at least to devitalize those which have formed the union of the hyphze, and to thereby sift and destroy the :fruit-spores. The process of reu frigeration reduces the air to a low tem erature, either by ice or chemicals, with a arge degree of humidity, and With the fruit or meats sealed in a tight chamber meets onlya portion of the factors of decay. Under that system the germs of the mycelium will vitalize and spread their seeds with more or less rapidity even at a low temperature. The carbonio-acid gas which is continuously exuded from the body of fruit in a sealed chamber if conned therein will ultimately destroy the flavor, though the fruit itself may not decay. The germs once vitalized even at a low temperature are a source of danger and disease, injurious to the Weak stomachs of children and invalids eating such fruit Without removing the skin. A dry-sterilizedair process obviates all these faults and conserves the fruit in perfect condition for a longer period of time than refrigeration. In the process described in my application Serial No. 537,526 these steps have been clearly set forth, and in the application Serial No. 597,670, for apparatus for carrying out this process, means have been illustrated and described for sterilizing airby subjecting it to a high degree of heat and for afterward drying the same and supplying it to the chamber containing the fruit under a high pressure. The apparatus described in the last-mentioned application has been found to be extremely effective When used on railway-Cars for the transportation of 'fruit or other perishable products a short distancesay from three to six days. lVhen, however, the fruit is to be carried longer distances, as is the case when transported by steamer over distances requiring from fifteen to thirty days to travel, it has been found that a process and apparatus which will completely remove the moisture contained in the air are required.

The object of my present invention is to provide an improved apparatus for drying air, especially adapted to be employed upon steamships and sailing vessels.

Before entering into a detailed description of thisinvention, however, it should be stated that warm air will retain in suspension a much greater amount of moisture than air ata lower temperature. Also that by reason of the fact that in utilizing my apparatus and in carrying out my process the air is subj ected to high TOO degrees of pressure, which increases the temperature of the same and consequently increases its moisture-suspending properties, means must be provided for successively coolling the air after each compression, and,

. ing ice or. other cooling agent, a plurality of separate and independent closed air-receptacles secured to said cooling-chamber, n connections between the final air-compressor of ...the series with one of said air-receptacles,

`connections between each adjacent pair of .i air-receptacles arranged alternately at thev upper and lower ends thereof, drip-pipes at 4the lower ends of each of said air-receptacles with cocks or cut-os therein, a pipe leading from the final air-receptacle of the battery to a double-acting pump which is adapted to l force the air under pressure from the battery into the fruit-compartment and to draw the waste air and moisture therefrom to discharge the same into the atmosphere, and a differentialA valve soconstructed that it is adapted to open at one pressure, to close at another, and

to remain open at any pressure between those Y atwhich it is adapted to open andclose.

Fig. 2is a'vertieal Fig.

3` is a horizontal section. Fig. 4 is an enlarged Aperspective detail view of one of the pipes en- L ing the spraying-screen therein.

,interior Viewshowing the application of my .invention to a vessel, bringing out particuteringthe air-receptacles of the battery, show-l Fig. 5 is an larly the connection between the battery, the

double-acting pump, and the fruit-comparti ment. Y Y y Y Like reference-numerals indicate like parts i in the different views. .l p The battery 1 is made upbf a cylindrical chamber 2 for containing ice or other cooling agent and a plurality of air-receptacles 3 4 5 6,secured to or formed integral with the cham- `ber 2 and` located upon the outside thereof.

., The said air-receptacles are lune-shaped in .cross-section, and their inner sides are formed ;by Vthe outer sidesof the chamber2. Leading into thereceptacle 3 is .aL pipe 7 which con- ,.ducts air under pressure from Va compressor S,

which is preferably the last of the series of compressors which are employed by me. In the pipe 7, nearits point of entrance into the receptacle 3, is a screen 9 of very fine mesh,

vprovided for the purpose of spraying the air admitted into said receptacle into very fine particles against the outer surface of the cooling-chamber 2. Fach of the air-receptacles 3, 4, 5, and 6 has a tapering or rounded lower end, in-which is located a drip-pipe 10, with a cock or cut-off 11 therein. The pipe 7 enters the receptacle 3 at a point near its upper end. Leading from the lower end of the receptacle 3 is a pipe 12, which enters the receptacle 4 at a point near its' lower end, and is also formed with a fine screen 13 therein similar to the screen 9. Similar connections14 and 15 are provided between the air-receptacles 4 and 5 and l5 and 6, the said connections being alternately arranged at the upper and lower ends of said receptacles. Leading from the final air-receptacle 6 is a pipe 16, which conveys the dryair under pressure from the battery to the double-acting pump 17, located Vjust outside of the compartment 18 for containing the fruit. In the pipe 16 is located'a differential valve 19, which is so constructed that it is adapted to open at one pressure, to close at a lower pressure, and to remain open at all pressures between those at which it is set to open and close.V This valve forms the subjectmattei' fora separate application for patent and need not be described in detail herein. The pump 17 receives the air from the battery at one end and forces it through the pipe 20 into the fruit-compartment 18. It also receives the moist waste air from said compartment through the pipe 21 at its opposite end and forces it. out into the atmosphere through the pipe 22.

My apparatus has now been sufficiently described, it is thought, to enable the operationthereof to be readily understood. I may preface the description thereof, however,-with the statement that in actual practice the air is first sterilized by subjecting it to a high degree of heat, and it is then subjected to a pressure aggregating about' five hundred pounds to the square inch. fore stated, by a series of compressors, and the heat generated by the compression is reduced by what I term intercoolers,so that when it leaves the final compressor it is at a temperature of about 1100 Fahrenheit. vWhen in'this condition, the air contains a quantity of moisture, and it is fed through the pipe 7 into the first air-receptacle 3 of the battery, being first broken up' into a spray or into fine streams by means of the screen 9. As it enters the receptacle 3 it is brought into contact with the cool outer surface of the cylindrical chamber 2, and by reason of the sudden reductionin the temperature a large part of the moisture contained'i'n the air is precipitated and falls to the bottom of the receptacle 3. It then passes through the pipe 12 'into the air-receptacle 4, being again divided up in its passage therethrough by the screen 13. Entering the receptacle 4, it is againbrought in contact with This is done, as hereto' IIO Veedsis the fresh cool surface of the cylindrical chamber 2 and more of the moisture contained thereinis precipitated. This action being repeated by its passage through the remaining receptacles 5 and G, it iinally leaves thereceptacle 6 in a perfectly dry condition. Actual experiment has shown that after operating this battery for a short time the receptacle 3 will be found to contain quite a large quantity of water in the bottom thereof, that the receptacle 4 will contain a smaller quantity, that the receptacle 5 will contain practically none, and that the receptacle 6 will contain absolutely none. The moisture in the receptacles maybe removed, however, by opening cocks or cnt-offs 1l in the pipes 10 and blowing it oit after the manner of blowing out steam-boilers. The air leaving the receptacle 6 passes through the pipe 1G to the doubleacting pump 17. It is then subjected to an additional and iinal compression and forced into the fruit-compartment 18 at normal temperature and in a perfectly dry condition, thereby removing all the moisture which may be upon the outside of the fruit, and thereby preventing the vitalization of the fnngoid spores. The waste or moist air from the fruitcompartment 18 is drawn off by the pump 17 through the pipe 2l and discharged into the atmosphere through the pipe 22.

In actual practice it has been found that the amount of air supplied from the compressors to the cooling-battery and double acting pump is not su'fiicient for a continuous current to be passed through the fruit-compartment underits initial pressure. Ihave therefore found it necessary to employ the differential valve 19 in the pipe 1G. 'This valve is so constructed that it will open under a pressure of fifty pounds and permit all air to pass through it under that or a greater pressure. Said valve is also so constructed that it will close when the pressure falls to twenty-tive pounds to the square inch or less', so that when the supply becomes so small that the pressure falls to twenty-five pounds all air will be shut off from the double-acting pump 17 and permit the battery to recharge itself. lVhen a pressure of fifty pounds has been reached, the valve will reopen and permit the passage of air to the pump.

Having now described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isy l. A battery for cooling and drying air, consisting of a main chamber for containing ice, a series of independent closed air-spaces adjacent the periphery of the chamberand pipes connecting the air-spaces alternately at their tops and bottoms, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A battery for cooling air and for precipitating the moisture contained therein,consist ing of a chamber for containing ice or other coolin agent, a series of closed air-receptacles communicating one with the other on the outside of said chamber, and means for admitting air to one of said receptacles, substantially as described.

A battery for cooling air and for precipitatin g the moisture contained therein, consisting of a chamber for containing ice 01 other cooling agent, a series of closed air-receptacles connected to said chamber, means for admitting air to one of said receptacles, and connections between the adjacent pairs of receptacles, substantially as described.

A. A battery for cooling air and for precipitatin g the moisture contained therein, consisting of a cylindrical chamber for containing ice or other cooling agent, a plurality of airreceptacles connected to the outside of said chamber, means for admitting air to one of said receptacles, and pipes conn ecting the adjacent pairs of receptacles arranged alternately at the upper and lower ends thereof, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. A battery for cooling air and for precipitatin g the moisture contained therein, consisting of a cylindrical chamber for containing ice or other cooling agent, a plurality of airreceptacles connected to the outside of said chamber, means for admitting air in a finelydivided condition to one of said receptacles, and pipes connecting the adjacent pairs of receptacles arranged alternately at the upper and lower ends thereof, substantially as and for the purpose described.

G. A battery for cooling air and for precipitating the moisture contained therein, consisting of a cylindrical chamber for containing ice or other cooling agent, a plurality of closed air-receptacles secured to the outside of said chamber, means for admitting air to one of said receptacles, connections between the adjacent pairs of said receptacles, and valved drip-pipes in the lower ends of each of said receptacles for drawing off the water of condensation.

7. A battery for cooling air and for precipitating the moisture contained therein,consist ing of a cylindrical chamber for containing ice o: othercooling agent, a plurality of closed air-receptacles on the outside of said chamber, a supply-pipe for air entering one of said receptacles, a screen in said pipe for breaking up the air into fine particles and admitting it in the form of a spray into said receptacle, pipes connecting the adjacent pairs oi' said receptacles, and screens in said pipes, substantially as and for the purpose described.

S. A battery for cooling air and for precipitating the moisture contained therein,consisting of a cylindrical chamber for containing ice or other cooling agent, a plurality of closed air-receptacles on the outside of said chamber, a supply-pipe for air entering one of said receptacles, a screen in said pipe for breaking up the air into fine particles and admitting it in the forni of a spray into said receptacle, pipes IOO IIO

connectingf the adjacent pairs of said reeep- In testimony whereof I have signed this 'taeles arranged alternately at the upper and specification in the presence of two subscriblower ends thereof, screens in said pipes, and ing Witnesses.

Y Valved drip-pipes in the lower ends of said ALFRED T. PERKINS. 5 receptacles for drawing off the water of eon- Witnesses:

densation, substantially as and for the pur- M ,STOCVKBRIDGE pose described: D. G. STUART. 

